Also:

Here’s a reminder to us all to check homes around us that have been foreclosed on, especially if you have seen pets there before the families left. I have blogged about this before but it bears repeating as foreclosures hit every part of the US.

One agent found a pooch named Sophie and another dog dicthed by their last owner.

“They were left in a back yard that was all dirt,” said Carrie Singer, a Phoenix-area real estate agent. “They were drinking water out of a paint bucket.”

The animals were discovered a few days ago at a foreclosed Phoenix home.

“That’s happening more often than I’d like to think,” Singer said.

Foreclosure fever is bringing out the worst in irresponsible animal owners who move without plans for their pets, Singer said.

A mortgage research company recently said the Phoenix-Mesa metro region has the 15th highest rate of foreclosure activity among the nation’s largest 100 metropolitan areas.

A study by RealtyTrac said during the three months ended September 30th, there were 18,328 total foreclosure filings in the Phoenix-Mesa areas.

Since most foreclosures take months, pet owners should have ample time to find a new place that takes animals, or at least take them to the Arizona Humane Society, agents said.

“I think sometimes people may be thinking they can pull themselves back out of it so they kind of wait until the last minute,” Singer said. “Then when it doesn’t end up happening, they kind of just leave.”